Vehicle-wheel.



No. 668,384. Patented Feb. l9, I901.

' F. w. MORGAN VEHIOLE'WHEEL. (Applieltxon filed July 24 1899 I ("0dal.)

IW Z Q. a

Arn'r triplet FRED W. MORGAN, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

VEHICLE-WHEEL.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 668,384, dated February19, 1901.

Application filed July 24, 1899.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, FRED W. MORGAN, a citizen of the United States,residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook, State of Illinois, haveinvented a certain new and useful Improvement in Vehicle-Wheels, ofwhich the following is a specification.

My invention relates to vehicle-wheels having elastic tires, and moreparticularly to elastic-tired wheels which are employed astraction-wheels for automobiles.

The objects of my invention are to provide an elastic-tired wheeladapted for efficient service as an automobile traction-wheel and toprovide a construct-ion in which the elastic tire will have no tendencywhatever to creep or shift circumferentially upon the folly-rim, toprovide a construction which will permit a ready removal or replacementof the tire and which will obviate the necessity of making the tireinthe form of a straight length and securing the same upon the Wheelrimby butting its ends and then joining the ends of the retaining bands orwires, which are usually provided and arranged to extend longitudinallythrough the tire, to efiectually prevent lateral shift on the part ofthe tire, and to provide certain details tending to render a Wheel ofthis character serviceable and thoroughly reliable.

To the attainment of the foregoing and other useful ends my inventionconsists in matters hereinafter set forth and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 represents in side elevation avehicle-wheel provided with a rim and an annular elastic tire embodyingthe principles of my invention. Fig. 2 is a cross-section, on a largerscale, of the tire, rim, and felly shown in Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a viewillustrating in cross-section a different form of tire. Figs. 4 and 5illustrate different forms of construction of the felly-rim.

The elastic tire A, which is preferably annular or ring-like in form, ispreferably composed of rubber and fabric and may be molded into suchannular form and then vulcanized by means of anysuitable apparatus. Itwill be observed that the tread a of the tire is composed of rubber,while its base or seating portion a is composed chiefly of superimposedlayers of fabric. Acouple of annular bands Serial No. 724,938. \Nomodel.)

or wires (1, are arranged to extend through the side portions of thetire, and, if so desired, a relatively larger band or wire 0&3 may beprovided and arranged to extend through the tire at a point near thecenter of its base. By referring to Fig. 3 it will be seen that thewheel comprises a felly B and a felly-rim O and also that the relativeformation of the latter and the tire is such that the two may be said tobe secured together with a dovetail joint. The said felly can be ofwood, metal, or any other suit-able material, and the felly-rim C, whichis preferably of metal, is com posed of a couple of oppositely-arrangedand annular cheek-plates cc. These cheekplates have their peripheries orouter portions provided with inwardly projecting shoulders or ledges cand the plate 0 is provided with a web or flange 0 which extends acrossand covers the periphery of the felly B.Thecheek-platesandthefellyareheldtogether by means of a number of boltsD, which are preferably inserted through the plates immediately insideof the line of juncture between the latter and the web 0 and which servealso as keys to lock the felly and fellyrim against relative rotation.These bolts or screws have their end portions-threaded to engagethreaded openings in the annular cheek-plate O, and in this way theyserve as tie-bolts, and their rotation therefore operates to clamp boththe tire and felly tightly between their opposing surfaces. The base ofthe tire, which is, as before stated and as will be observed byreference to the drawings, flaring or dovetail in form, is compressed bythe clamping or drawing together of the cheek-plates, and it is for thisreason and with a View to insuring a requisite degree of compressionthat the base of the tire is preferably somewhat greater in width thanthe channel of the felly-rim. In this way the base of the tire, which iscomposed chiefly of fabric, will be compressed to an extent to preventcircumferential creep or rotation of the tire upon the felly-rim, andsuch compression will, together with the dovetail formation of the tireand rim, serve or operate to maintain the tire in place-that is to say,the compression and the dovetail character of the joint between the tireand rim will effectually prevent the two from separatin The shoulders 0support the overhanging side portions of the tire when the latter isseated and compressed within the channel of the rim, and at thisjuncture it will be seen.

that these side portions of the tire. are held in place by the annularbands or wires a These wire rings or annular bands, which extend aroundthrough the tire at points just outside of and above the said shoulders,and which are each preferably inclosed within a sort of loop of fabric,(see Fig. 2 and the other cross-sections,) serve to strengthen the tireand prevent it from shifting sidewise when subjected to lateral strain.The wire or band a which extends around through the flaring base of thetire, will, if employed, serve to further strengthen and stiffen thetire and render it less liable to be sprung or forced from the channelof the felly rim. The cheek-plate c, which is provided with the web 0can be shrunk upon the felly B, and after so doing it will only benecessary to first place the annular tire upon the wheel and adjust theplate 0 into place and to then insert the bolts D and tighten them upfor the purpose of compressing the tire. This construction andarrangement obviates the necessity of making the tire in the form of astraight length, and consequently it also obviates the necessity oftightening up the retainingwires and joining their opposite ends for thepurpose of securing such length of tire upon the wheel. As previouslystated, the elastic tire is preferably composed of rubber and fabric,and accordingly the base portion of the tire and also the overhanginglateral or side portions may be built up and constructed for the mostpart of friction-duck or the like, while the outer or tread portion ofthe tire can be composed of rubber or its equivalent. In this way thetire is provided with a base portion of a sufficiently unyielding natureto when compressed by the cheek-plates effectually prevent the tire fromcreeping or shifting circumferentially upon the rim. The dovetail jointmakes it impossible for the tire to be forced or sprung from the rim,and the annular wires a prevent the tire from rolling or shiftingsidewise when subjected to lateral strain.

In Fig. 4 the tire is the same as in the preceding figures; but in thiscase the rim E consists of three parts instead of two, and the bolts areprovided with nuts instead of being screwed into a cheek-plate. In thisfigure the said rim comprises the portion P, which is shrunk orotherwise secured upon the periphcry of thefelly, an annular ring 6,which serves as one of the shoulders, and a cheekplate 6 which isprovided with a shoulder a The bolts F are inserted through the fellyand cheek-plate and are retained in place by nuts or washers f. Withthis arrangement the portion e is first secured to the periphery of thefelly, and the annular ring 2 is then adjusted into place to providesuch portion with an in Wardly-projecting shoulder, similar in form andfunction to one of the shoulders c of Fig. 3. Next the elastic tire isplaced upon the wheel and the cheek-plate c then adjusted into place atthe side of the tire and felly. After this the bolts are inserted androtated for the purpose of drawing the two portions of the rim together,su ch clamping action operating to compress the base of the tire in themanner previously described.

Still another way of constructing the rim is shown in Fig. 5. made intwo parts or halves g g, which are substantially alike, and each part orhalf is provided with an inwardly-projecting shoulder g. It will beobserved, however, thatthe said shoulders are, unlike the shoulders ofthe preceding figures, peripherally grooved and adapted to receive theoverhanging side portions of the tire. The wires a keep theseoverhanging side portions of the tire firmly seated within the saidgrooves, and this arrangement is instrumental in still furtherpreventing the tire from rolling or shifting sidewise when subjected tolateral strain. Also in this case an annular band or hoop b is shrunkupon the periphery of the felly and one half of the rim is secured tosuch band by means of short screws 9 The other half of the rim, which isof course removable, is

retained in place by means of a number of bolts or screws H, which areinserted radially through the felly and band I) and which have their endportions threaded to engage threaded openings in the base of suchremovable half of the rim. It will be seen, however, that thisconstruction necessitates the use of a clamp or the like for adjustingthe removable half of the rim into place, so as to compress the tire,and that the bolts cannot be inserted until the threaded openings insuch portion of the rim have been-thus brought into register with thebolt-holes in the felly and band I).

It will be understood that while I have shown the metal rings a as beingmade of Wire, I may employ rings or endless bands made of fiat metal orany other shape without departing from the spirit of my invention. WhileI have shown the wires a embedded in portions of the compressed fabricbase, the latter can be formed so as to be embedded in the body of thetire, as in Fig. 3, in which case the wires if used will be embedded inthe rubber or, as in said figure, the side Wires can be omitted. Thetire may also be made in sections with their ends butted together, andin such case the wires may also be in corresponding sections or lengths.This may be desirable in cases of large wheels.

What I claim as my invention isl. The combination of a rim provided withinwardly projecting shoulders, a substantially solid and elastic tireseated within said rim and provided with overhanging lateral or sideportions which seat upon said shoul- In this case the rim G is ders, anda couple of wires extending around through the tire and arranged to holdthe said side portions of the tire upon the said shoulders.

2. In combination with a suitable rim the elastic vehicle-tire Aprovided with a rubber tread a, a flaring base ct, and overhanginglateral or side portions provided with wires a 3. In combination with asuitable rim, the elastic tire A provided with a rubber tread and aflaring base a, and having also overhanging lateral or side portionswhich are provided with wires (t and which are, together with the saidbase portion, composed of superimposed layers of fabric, substantiallyas shown and described.

4. In combination with a suitable rim, an annular, endless andsubstantially solid tire which is provided with a rubber tread, aflaring base portion of fabric, and which is also provided withoverhanging lateral or side portions provided with metal rings orendless bands which extend around through the said side portions of thetire, substantially as described.

5. The combination of a rim provided with shoulders 0 an annular,endless and substantially solid tire seated upon said rim and providedwith overhanging lateral or side portions which are held in place uponsaid shoulders by means of the metal rings or endless bands a 6. Thecombination of a rim provided with shoulders 0 an annular, endless andsubstantially solid tire having a flaring base portion composed offabric and having also overhanging lateral or side portions which areheld in place by wires a the latter being inclosed in loops formed fromthe said fabric.

7. A tire composed of rubber and fabric and molded or formed upon acouple of metal rings or endless bands, a separable rim adapted toreceive and compress the said tire and having inwardly-projectingshoulders which afford seats for portions of the said tire which areheld'thereon by the metal rings or bands.

8. A substantially solid tire provided with a base portion which iscomposed of fabric and which is provided with lateral grooves, theoverhanging lateral or side portions formed by thus grooving the tirebeing pro vided with metal bands or wires which are embedded andinclosed within loops formed of the said fabric, and the tread portionof the tire being composed of rubber or rubber composition which isvulcanized to the said fabric.

9. An elastic tire having a rubber or rubber -composition tread and abase portion which is composed of superimposed layers of fabric, thewhole being molded and Vulcan ized together, and the overhanginglateralor side portions of the tire, which are formed by grooving thesides of the base portion of the tire, being provided with metal bandsor wires which are inclosed and embedded within laterally-extendin gloops or folds formed of one or more layers of the said fabric,substantially as described.

FRED W. MORGAN.

Witnesses:

ELTON W. MoOAsLm, WM. F. SYLVESTER.

